So I was inspired by
Will , who I found out about from
Kate, who I discovered on
Jill's site. (I love bloggers). Based on something Will did, I decided that I too would write 100 things about my life. I'm not sure I can do it all in one sitting like he did. Mine might need to be continued.
A ver.
1. I was born on October 1 in the mid-1970s.
2. My parents had the good sense to have me born in the States. I was born in Boston.
3. At the time I was born my parents were residing in Abijan, Ivory Coast. I think I was conceived there. My parents are from Haiti.
4. I was baptised at one month old in Boston. My godmother is my aunt Marie-Antoine. We call her Mamie Toine. She's my mom's older sister. When my mom and her sisters are together they have a really bawdy sense of humor. If you hang around them too long when they're together, they'll start talking about your genitals. If you're foolish to stay even longer, they may try to see "how you've grown up." I learned long ago to make myself scare whenever they get a certain gleam in their eyes.
5. My godfather is Uncle Mike. He's not really my uncle. He's white. I forget how my parents knew him, but he died when I was quite young. His wife, Aunt Betty, always remembered to send me birthday cards. She died a few years ago too.
6. I took my first international flight shortly after my baptism. It was not to be my last. My parents flew me back to Africa.
7. I lived in Abijan until I was 5 years old. I don't remember much about it, but I remember that it was a city with sky scrapers and not a jungle with lions and tigers [as some of my class mates believed when I returned back to the U.S.]
8. We moved back to the U.S. when I was 5. We went to live in Maryland (outside of Washington, DC). My mom got a job at the World Bank.
9. We lived in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Now it's a very over-developed suburb of DC, but when we first moved there, there were a lot of farms. I remember dreaming about becoming a high school student and joining the 4H club.
10. My first school in the U.S. was an international montessori school. I remember that I was teased once when I first got there because I couldn't speak english very well. The kid who teased me was named Bradley. I remember him being much bigger than me.
11. My mom tells me that after this, I never wanted to speak french at home. I insisted on speaking english. This tells me that even at that tender young age, I understood the importance of total immersion.
12. My best friend in Montessori School was a Korean boy named Charles. I remember that I was the only girl invited to his birthday party. It was at Chuck E Cheese's and my mom had made me wear a stupid frilly dress [in Africa, little girls always wore dresses to parties]. I remember wishing I had pants and could jump in the balls.
13. In fourth grade I transfered to another private school. My older brother Chris was also in school there -- he was in 8th grade at the time. The school went from K -9th grade. My sister later joined in kindergarden.
14. I liked this school and would stay through graduation. It was a tiny school (there were 17 kids in my graduating class). I was a big fish in a small pond there. I was on the basketball (i'm 5'3) and lacrosse teams. I sang solos in the school concerts. I was valedictorian of my class, and i won all sorts of awards. I think this place was great for my self-esteem.
15. After graduating from that school I went to a public high school. I was no longer a big fish in a little pond, though I made some great friends.
16. I was very active in high school. Many kids, when filling out their college applications, search in vain for any activity to place down to make them look more interesting. I, on the other hand, had to figure out what to take out [lest I look like a lying, self-aggrandizing snot-nosed kid]. I was involved in 13 extra -curriculars during my junior year. I limited my application to the activities where I held officer positions or where it was purely honorary. I limited myself to 9.
17. Off the top of my head, I was in Poms, theater, martial arts, youth group, black student union, art club, junior achievement, toastmasters, key club, national honors society, and spanish honors society.
18. I was chosen to go to the National Junior Achievement Conference (NAJAC) at the University of Indiana. It was for a week in August during the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. I would have been a bride's maid at my cousin's wedding, but I went there instead. I remember it being the best week of my life at that time.
19. We sang songs like about "NAJAC spirit" and I totally bonded with kids from all over. It was pretty rockin' and I got my first taste of college life.
20. I was a very good kid, but I guess I was a nerd. At the very least I was a complete over-achiever.
21. I went to college in Canada -- McGill. It was cheap and it was a good school.
22. I got over being "really good" in college.
23. I discovered alcohol in college. For my first year I was often drunk 6 nights a week.
24. I pee'd and threw-up all over Montreal. I thought I was very cool for doing these things.
25. As much as I drank, my friends could all out-drink me. I'm really glad I passed all my classes and even managed to maintain a B average.
26. At McGill almost all activities revolved around alcohol. When we first got to school they had "Open Air Pub." Frosh Week and Winter Carnival were complete drink fests. All activities with professors were "wine and cheeses" or "beer and pizza" events. Our stadium, an major class building, and one of the residence halls were all named after Molson.
27. My second year I discovered drugs. Raves were big and I enjoyed what I was doing. My second year was one of the most fun years of my life. Fun like that would kill me now. My grades were not as good that year.
28. The rest of college was a bit of a blur. I had fun, but my fun definitely toned down after that year.
29. At the end of my third year I realized I was depressed and fat. I started going to the gym [did martial arts and hip hop aerobics], and I started eating better. I quit the drugs and I lost 35 lbs. I looked and felt much better.
30. It was around this time that I had my first serious boyfriend. I'd had some boyfriends in high school, but Greg was different. He was a master's student and at first was amazing to me, but he was pretty socially awkward. We met in martial arts class and my mom still wishes today that I'd married him. He reminds her of my dad. She still thinks of him often. I don't.
OK, I think I've done enough for now. I'll try to continue this later.
